Odense Staalskibsværft
Odense Staalskibsværft (Odense Steel Shipyard) is a Kalmar Union shipyard company located in Munkebo, near Odense. Itis best known for building container ships for its parent group, MAERSK Group, including some of the biggest container ships in the world. Throughout the years, the shipyard has also been one of the main ship suppliers for the Sjøforsvaret and other navies around the world. History The first yard was opened in 1918–1919 by the A.P. Møller company. A new yard with bigger and better facilities was constructed 1957–1959 on a new site located in Munkebo a few kilometres outside Odense proper. Odense Steel Shipyard was the largest yard within the Odense Steel Shipyard Group, which also consisted of two yards and an engineering company, all situated in the Baltic. The yard was known for designing and building innovative vessels that applied the newest technology in design and equipment. The original shipyard remained in operation until 1966, when all operations were transferred to the new site. Unlike the modern shipyard, the old yard produced civilian and merchant vessels only. Its first completed ship was cargo steamship Robert Mærsk, completed in 1920. Its last production was Yard No. 177, the bulk carrier Laura Mærsk. Since 1996 the Yard has built some of the world's largest container ships, including the whole Mærsk E-class with a nominal capacity of 15,550 TEU, and some of the Triple E class with a nominal capacity of 18,000 TEU. Because of the innovative products developed at Odense Steel Shipyard, the company was widely recognized as an influential voice in the shipbuilding community. The new Odense Steel Shipyard (the "Lindø" Yard) The new shipyard originally had two building docks, No. I and II allowing the construction of tankers of up to 100,000 tonnes deadweight (DWT). The yard was enlarged in 1967 to include a new very large building dock, No. III allowing the construction of tankers in the VLCC and ULCC class. The largest construction carried out on the yard was two 500,000 DWT tankers in 1984. From the 1960s until 1977, the yard only constructed oil tankers (no larger than 330,000 DWT) as well as bulk carriers. The first RO-RO ship was built in 1979, and the first container ship in 1980. In December 1992, the yard completed the world's first 300,000 DWT double-hull tanker. In January 1996 they delivered its first Post-Panamax container ship. Due to the 2009 Global Recession, there were problems in the world shipping industry which led Maersk to announce in January 2009 that Odense would concentrate temporarily on smaller ships, but the tonnage of the new ships ordered from 2015 is growing continuously. Civil shipbuilding The company has been building over the years numerous ships specializing in the design of tankers, gas carriers, bulk carriers, RO-RO and container ships mainly for MAERSK but working also for other shipping companies worldwide. In adition the shipyard makes maintenance, retrofitting and conversion of any kind of ship. During the 1990s, some of the largest ships in the world left the shipyard, although at present it is specialized in the construction of smaller vessels with a strong technological component. However, as the maritime sector recovers is strengh, orders are growing in tonnage. Military shipbuilding Throughout its history the shipyard has built numerous military vessels, both for the Sjøforsvaret and for navies around the world. Currently, the following vessels are in service: *Vorma Class aircraft carrier *Muspelheim Class nuclear aircraft carrier (under construction) *Absalon Class muiltitask support ship *Harald Bluetoth destroyer Facilities The Lindo Yard has 4 large scale dry docks all covered with high capacity cranes, and a 700 m working berth, wich allow the company to build and repair any type of ship of any size. *Dock No. I - 300x45x10 metres, with a 120 tonnes and two 60 tonnes cranes. *Dock No. II - 300x45x10 metres, with a 120 tonnes, a 80 tonnes and a 60 tonnes cranes. *Dock No. III - 415x90x14 metres with an 1000 tonnes gantry crane and two 120 tonnes cranes. *Dock No. IV - 145x30x8 metres, with two 60 tonnes cranes. All docks are supplied with electricity, water, ballast water and wastewater discharge system. In addition to the dry docks, the shipyard has numerous workshops and halls to prefabricate and assembly sections as well as wharehouses, blast and paintshop. Subsidiaries Baltija Shipbuilding Yard, located in Klaipeda (Poland-Lithuania), builds pontoons, tugboats, barges, trawlers, floating docks, river ferries, dry cargo ships and container carriers. "Baltija" also provides ship-repair services. The yard also builds grand blocks and outfitted superstructures, that are just part of container ships built in Odense Staalskibsværft or other shipyards. The Soviet Ministry of Shipbuilding founded the yard in 1952, in order to build fishing boats. In 1958 the yard started building steel floating docks. In 1992 the government of Lithuania held 96% of the shares, which were sold to Odense Staalskibsværft in April 1995. Category:Kalmar Union Category:Companies of Kalmar Union Category:Companies